


As I Lay Dying

by Haecceity



Category: Legend of the Seeker, Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, F/F, F/M, Fusion, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, M/M, Past Character Death, Past Sexual Assault, Rule 63, Vampires, non-consensual blood play, relationship drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-27
Updated: 2013-11-27
Packaged: 2018-01-02 19:06:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1060457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haecceity/pseuds/Haecceity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Episode tag to 2x22 "As I Lay Dying". Richard is Elena, Darken is Katherine, Kahlan is Stefan, and Denna is Damon</p>
            </blockquote>





	As I Lay Dying

**Author's Note:**

  * For [confessorlove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/confessorlove/gifts).



> Prompt: he Vampire Diaries AU. Basically Darken is Klaus, Richard is Elijah, and Kahlan is Katerina Petrova. Darken wants to break the hybrid curse by sacrificing Kahlan's life after wooing her for weeks. The problem is, Richard is in love with her. If you want to bring in more characters you're more than welcome to. Maybe like Jennsen as Rebekah would be the obvious choice IDK. -from confessorlove
> 
> I altered the casting significantly from the original prompt. For the purposes of this fic I tried to find alternate casting but couldn't choose. Michael is recast as Pacific Islander, Leo is African-American, and Dahlia and Nathair are Asian. Full cast list at the end.

“Are we really doing this?” Cara asked, her tone a mix of disgust and disbelief. As she and Richard lugged a cooler between them, she looked around the sunny lawn. All around them, ignorant people sat on beach blankets with coolers of their own. In the bright sunlight the grass was green, the people were smiling and cheerful, and the projection screen was waiting for its usual showing of Gone with the Wind. Personally, Cara thought Rhett Butler should have run away from Scarlett as far and fast as he could as soon as he met her.

“Yes. We’re doing this.” Richard said firmly. “This is normal and we are going to have a normal day. Just one day without thinking about Klaus or werewolves or the Underworld coming to get us. Normal,” he repeated the word with relish.

Cara opened her mouth to say something sarcastic but stopped when she saw the haunted look in her brother’s eyes. She might be the one Uncle Silas hated but he was the one who had almost died. And they would both miss Aunt Grace. “Fine,” she grumped, pulling out their beach blanket.

Chase appeared from somewhere in the crowd and gave Richard a fraternal shove. “We’re like Scarlett O’Hara,” he said, not even pretending he hadn’t heard them. “We’ve survived the war and now we’re going to celebrate being alive.”

Opening their cooler, Cara looked around for Leo. Their relationship was so new and so strange. In less than a year she had gone from being with a troubled druggie like Triana to the beautiful, lonely vampire Dahlia to a smart warlock like Leo. 

Sometimes she still wondered what she’d missed. She could feel the hole in her mind where Triana’s death should have been only because she’d read about it. She could vaguely remember that there had been a time when she had felt like Triana and getting high were the only things in the world that mattered. School would pass and people would die but that summer afternoon when she and Triana had fumbled off each other’s clothes, all stoned and giggly, had been an oasis. But the memory was distant and faded, like a story she had heard from a friend. The magic of that memory was stolen from her. Cara understood why Richard had done it and in retrospect, trying to die to join Triana might have been an overreaction but she still couldn’t help picturing a jagged hole where her memories should be. She’d forgiven Richard for it but she would not forget.

Her relationship with Leo was a surprise. He was Richard’s friend. He’d been in and out of their parents’ house since they were all barely out of diapers. Part of her was still convinced that Leo would die like Triana and Dahlia, leaving her behind. Another part of Cara that she wished she could squash wondered if maybe she was dating Leo because he was a safe option. Triana and Dahlia had both ended their lives as vampires, some of the toughest, fastest, and most resilient beings Cara had ever met. Yet the longer Cara knew vampires, the more vulnerable they seemed. Denna and Kahlan had found ways around their sensitivity to sunlight but there was still vervain and wooden stakes and now werewolf bites. In comparison, Leo was a breakable bag of blood but he was a breakable bag of blood with cool psychic powers who no one wanted to stake. And her heart soared when she saw him navigating through the crowd towards them.

***

Denna worried the ring on her finger as she thought about Richard and Darken. It always came back to Richard and Darken no matter what she did. She had escaped the orbit of one only to be caught by the other, drawn back in spite of everything. 

In life, Denna had been reckoned a great beauty. Her porcelain skin and narrow waist and long blonde hair had suited the fashions of the time. Kahlan had been in her shadow. Seven years younger and covered in freckles, Kahlan’s frame had straight lines that could be disguised by a corset but not tamed. She had been an avid reader of science and the Bible. Their mother had made comments about reading too much leading to a lack of marriage options and lines between the eyebrows but Kahlan had been obstinate. Of course, their mother had also made comments about Kahlan and her husband, whoever he might be, making arrangements for Denna to live with them. Whenever she found herself getting too nostalgic it was always good to remember that at least now the boors who wanted her attention didn’t think she was an old maid.

As she felt the cold metal of the ring under the pads of her fingers, she thought about what she had done to Richard. He was right not to forgive her. Forcing her blood on him had been monstrous and worse, if it had meant he survived and spent an eternity hating her for forcing a life of vampirism on him, she could have lived with that. It was wrong. Not what Richard wanted. Not what she wanted. Maybe she deserved to die in the agonizing insanity of werewolf poisoning but it wasn’t what she wanted either. She could still remember the look on Constance’s face, the feel of the stake in her hand as she plunged it into Constance’s heart. It had been a mercy kill and one of the few truly decent acts Denna had performed in a long, long life. She couldn’t ask Kahlan to hold the stake for her. Even if it was a mercy kill and well deserved and Denna had killed Dennee, the sister of Kahlan’s heart, Kahlan would feel guilty for playing a part in Denna’s death. 

Denna wasn’t sure why. She’d never understood her sister terribly well. The other woman would commit the most brutal acts and then plunge into long periods of torturing herself with guilt. Denna wasn’t sure why Kahlan couldn’t see the bad times coming. They looked glaringly obvious to Denna. If you felt guilty about killing people, then either turn off the guilt or stop killing people. Denna had grown tired of cleaning up Kahlan’s messes decades ago. Lucky for Kahlan she had Richard now to apologize for her missteps and explain to her why they were okay. 

Denna’s mouth twisted bitterly on the memory of the taste of Richard’s skin as she plucked the ring from her finger and spread her arms akimbo. The sunlight falling through the window struck Denna’s skin like acid. A moment later, Kahlan struck Denna more like a freight train. Denna didn’t have the mental focus to resist as Kahlan shoved her ring back on her finger, pinning her in place with a forearm across the throat.

“Suicide is a sin against Our Creator,” Kahlan whispered vehemently.

“It’s better than dying of a werewolf bite, you ninny,” Denna said, shoving Kahlan off of her.

Kahlan grabbed Denna’s wrist and turned it over to look at the bite. Denna fought back the urge to brush Kahlan off and put her unsightly wound where it wouldn’t disturb others. “What happened?” Kahlan demanded as if Denna had planned to get bitten.

“I was helping Emma. She was turning. She nipped me good.” Denna said, flexing the tendons in her forearm to look at the rotting spot.

Blue eyes widening in horror, Kahlan gripped hard enough that Denna could feel the bones in her wrist grinding against one another. “We’ll find a way to fix this.”

“There is no cure! You saw what happened to Constance. I won’t go out like that.” Denna growled. Before she could register what was happening, her back slammed into a different wall. Struggling ineffectually, Denna’s teeth rattled against each other through two more transitions. Then she was down in the basement room where Bianca had grown vervain and Kahlan was locking the door.

“I’ll find a way to fix this,” Kahlan said while Denna coughed up blood. “Leo might know something.”

“Leo hates me,” was the only objection Denna could think of. The idea of being able to survive was the greatest torture Kahlan could have thought of and she wasn’t even trying. Denna chuckled weakly at the thought, aware that the laugh wasn’t just echoing wrong. Her blood was already turning against her.

“I’ll talk to him.” Kahlan said softly. Denna knew she was trying to be soothing but the underlying tone of guilt just made Denna laugh through the venom laced blood in her mouth.

This time it wasn’t Kahlan’s fault. Denna had always known that no good deed would go unpunished.

***

Kahlan hurried at a human pace through the streets of Mystic Falls, tears blurring her vision. They were supposed to be free by now. Her, Denna, Richard, and… everyone. Grace was supposed to be alive to go home to her husband and children. She and Richard were supposed to be choosing colleges, not worrying about what Klaus might be doing. 

Denna wasn’t supposed to be hurt. Denna was indestructible, the strong one. Kahlan was weak from denying herself human blood but Denna was strong, in command of herself. Kahlan reminded herself that Denna was only physically strong. She was the one to succumb to Darken’s charms willingly. She was the one too weak to deal with inconvenient emotions. The one who chose a chew toy over a relationship like the one Kahlan had with Richard. Denna was too weak to really love anyone. Even Constance.

Her traitorous memory brought back the feel of Darken’s hand on her shoulder, his fingers sliding along the skin of her neck, undoing the buttons on her complicated dress. She remembered him wearing those black riding boots with the red coat that set off his blue eyes. She remembered the way her breath had caught in her throat and her pulse had raced as she watched her sister glide gracefully across the floor in his arms.

Despite some differences in appearance, Darken and Richard’s scents were identical. Scent was everything to a vampire but not something humans generally noticed. If she were human, Kahlan would not see the similarities between Richard and Darken. As it was, she strove to remember how different they were.

She couldn’t imagine Darken being as shy as Richard had been when he admitted that he kept a diary too. She couldn’t imagine Richard compelling her to love him. Richard wanted it to be real. Richard wanted everything to be real.

Her heart hurt to think of dragging him back to the horrors of the night of his aunt’s death but he was a supernatural creature too and that at least was none of her doing. Klaus would have sought him out no matter what she did. And if Klaus was as terrible and powerful as everyone indicated he was, he would have found Richard sooner or later regardless of whatever game Darken was playing.

It was still easier to blame Darken.

Kahlan planned to stay in Mystic Falls long enough to graduate from High School so she was careful not to be seen doing anything too inhuman, like appear out of nowhere in front of her boyfriend. ”Hey,” she said softly, taking his hand in hers under the nice, normal sunshine. It always pressed faintly against her as if it knew the ring was only a tiny barrier to its greater power, never letting her forget what an unnatural thing she was. “I need to talk to you,” Kahlan exhaled softly, feeling something intangible slip toward inevitability.

Richard gave Cara a worried look. After she settled back between Chase and Leo, she gave her brother a thumbs up and scooted her way into her boyfriend’s lap. “Is this a good talk? Please tell me this is a good talk.”

Kahlan shook her head, frowning pensively. She pulled him out of line of sight of Chase so that she wouldn’t have to watch him try to pretend he wasn’t eavesdropping.

“You’re breaking the rule,” Richard grumbled wearily. “One day. We’re supposed to have one day.”

“It’s about Denna.” The words tasted like poison in Kahlan’s mouth.

“What’s she done now?” Richard’s shoulders slumped and he pinched his nose like he had a headache coming on. “I told her I’m not helping clean up any more bodies and I meant it.”

“She’s dying,” Kahlan said, not trying to hide from Richard how uncertain she felt. Denna had always been around no matter how much Kahlan hated or resented her. She had cleaned up after Kahlan’s messes when she didn’t have to and beaten Kahlan senseless when she thought Kahlan was being stupid. Kahlan didn’t like Denna, but she didn’t want her dead.

“What?” Richard’s head snapped up. “What happened?”

“Emma bit her. On accident.”

“A werewolf bite.” Richard looked like he’d been sucker punched. “She’s… there has to be some way we can save her.”

Kahlan was surprised at how quickly he jumped on his white horse to save Denna but supposed she shouldn’t be. She quelled a prickle of jealousy. 

“Oh God. She tried to apologize for feeding me her blood. And I sent her away.” Richard said in growing horror. “I should go see her.”

“No!” It wasn’t the jealousy that made Kahlan shout. It was worry for Richard’s safety. “You remember what being bit did to Constance. Denna’s not safe to be around.”

“But-”

“I’ll need to borrow Leo.” Kahlan said softly. “Maybe he’ll know a spell that could help.” 

“But I could-”

“Please, Richard. Stay safe.” Kahlan touched Richard’s face. “I was the one who provoked Denna into becoming a vampire. I’m responsible.”

“Kahlan.” Richard pulled her into a kiss.

“I know.” Kahlan nodded, feeling tears again. They walked back over to Richard’s friends and she made eye contact with the warlock.

“Witch business,” Leo whispered in Cara’s ear.

Richard grabbed Cara as she tried to follow Leo. “We’re going to enjoy the movie. They’ll update us when they find something.”

Kahlan filled in Leo on the way to the place where he could contact the souls of the witches who had come before him. Leo was less than thrilled with Kahlan’s plan but he was going to go along with it for Richard’s sake. “Thank you,” Kahlan told him sincerely as they walked into the shadowy gloom of the building.

“Don’t thank me yet.” Leo told her, his brown eyes compassionate but wary. “They might not cooperate.” He took a deep breath and visibly centered himself.

“All I ask is that you try.” Kahlan said, her nails biting into the skin of her palms.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Leo’s mouth was moving but there was something otherworldly about the reverberation of his voice.

“Leo?”

“Kieran.”

“I just need to know how to save Denna.” Kahlan said, chin up, glaring into Leo’s eyes.

“You won’t find what you’re looking for here.” Kieran said harshly. “She’s outlived her time.”

“But does it exist? Is there a way?” Kahlan pressed. She’d always been good at telling when someone was hiding the truth from her.

“Nature ensures a balance. Stop trying to disrupt it.” Kieran said sharply, his teeth standing out in the gloom.

“There is a way.” Kahlan couldn’t help smiling in relief.

Leo cried out in pain and fell to his knees. Kahlan rushed to his side and supported him. “They whispered a name,” Leo panted. “Klaus.”

***

Michael sat at his desk in the police station and found himself clicking the mouse harder and harder. The vampire menace was back. His son was a vampire. He thought they’d protected the town but here he was staring back at the same problems he’d faced the previous year all over again. It was time to change tactics.

Abruptly, Michael stood, clipped on his badge, grabbed his gun, and let the desk officer know he was heading over to the Amnell place. He didn’t allow himself to be deterred when he knocked on the door and no one answered. Pulling his gun, he broke into the mansion and swept each room as he went. 

Part of him knew it was pointless. Vampires could move so quickly that they could flit past him and he might never even know they were there. But he had to do something before his town devolved into a monsters’ paradise and, God help him, he couldn’t hurt Chase. Even when he knew it wasn’t Chase, it was some demon who wore Chase’s face and walked through a mockery of Chase’s life. So long as that thing was around, Michael could hope to recover his son.

Finding no one in the house, Michael crept down to the basement. When he looked through the window in one of the doors, he saw Denna lying face down on the concrete floor. “Denna Amnell, you are under arrest on suspicion of murder.” The words felt louder in the stillness then they probably were. He allowed his anger at Denna to make his voice strong despite the knee weakening fear coursing through him. Once he had thought Denna was his friend but she was just pretending like the thing was pretending to be Chase. Outwardly living human lives to disguise the monsters they truly were.

Denna didn’t move, didn’t even fake a breath or two. Searching, Michael found the keys around the corner. “I know you can hear me, Denna. For the sake of our _friendship_ I want you to come quietly.”

As he wiggled the key in the lock, Michael saw Denna take a wet, shuddering breath and roll over. He stopped with the key in the lock as he saw her eyes, too wide pupils and red sclera. She coughed and blood dribbled down her chin. “Have I been naughty, sheriff?”

“You’re coming with me,” Michael said firmly, willing himself to do what was necessary to protect his town. This was what she’d always been underneath. Even when she helped him eliminate vampires she was always a monster.

“I don’t want to go,” Denna pouted, her eyes tracking something Michael couldn’t see.

“I’m not giving you a choice.” Michael took out his handcuffs.

Denna jumped on top of him for a moment, the harsh electric lights shining off the saliva on her teeth. “I never had a choice,” she whispered in his ear.

Then Michael was left with nothing but the breeze of her passing. Only then did he notice how hard his heart was pounding.

***

Kahlan scouted the apartment building thoroughly before going upstairs to see Darken. She could smell traces of Klaus all along the hall. The dry scent of vampire was nearly smothered under a combination of undead and musky wolf that was far more recent. The lupine flavor made the fine hairs on the back of Kahlan’s neck stand straight up.

When she opened the door, Darken was sitting on the couch in front of the television where he could keep an eye on the majority of the space. He was wearing the same black leather pants and sheer black top he’d been in for the past few days. Gesturing with a nearly empty bottle of hard alcohol, Darken glared at Kahlan. “You. What’s happening? I was supposed to be free of Klaus by now. I was supposed to be miles and miles away.” He set the bottle down and stood angrily in a way that absolutely did not make Kahlan stare at his very visible biceps.

Glaring, Kahlan crossed her arms defensively. “We ran into a few setbacks.”

“Setbacks,” Darken said disgustedly. He came closer and as his scent hit Kahlan she was reminded of the first night he’d come into her room while her parents and Denna were asleep. He’d sat down on the edge of the bed and said, “I’ve seen the way you look at me.” The feel of his hand on her cheek felt suddenly and vibrantly present as he filled the room with his presence.

“Yes.” Kahlan said tightly, Grace’s corpse flashing before her mind’s eye. “Denna’s been bitten by a werewolf.”

The flicker of something like grief or worry that Kahlan saw cross Darken’s face had to be an illusion. “And you came here because-” he stiffened and pushed Kahlan out of direct line of sight of the front door.

Kahlan bit down on an indignant squeak as the front door opened and Klaus walked in and Elijah followed on his heels. Darken gave her a playful smirk as he dragged her back out in front of the ancient brothers. “Look who came for a visit,” Darken purred.

“You just keep popping up,” Klaus said, looking Kahlan up and down.

“I need help. My sister’s been bitten by a werewolf.” Kahlan spread her empty hands before her in entreaty. “All my leads pointed to you.” The words felt no more real for all that she seemed to be repeating them to everyone she knew.

“It’ll have to wait,” Klaus said, shrugging off her gaze. “You see, I have an obligation to my brother. Family is everything, wouldn’t you say?”

Kahlan glared at Elijah as Klaus walked past her. Elijah met her gaze as steadily as if he weren’t a traitorous, lying snake.

“Yes, it is.” Elijah answered, hope burned brightly under his otherwise impassive voice. If he hadn’t cost Richard his aunt, Kahlan could almost have pitied him in that moment. He gazed regretfully into Kahlan’s eyes for a moment. “He promised me-”

“I promised you would be reunited with yours.” Klaus said, his back to the three vampires. “And so you shall.” Klaus plunged the knife that Elijah had planned to use on him into Elijah’s chest with a motion too sudden for Elijah to dodge.

From the look on Darken’s face, he’d seen it coming too. Kahlan wasn’t sure how Elijah couldn’t. But then, people believed lies most easily when they were afraid enough that they were true or when they wanted so badly for them to be true that they ignored instincts and experience. She and Darken watched Klaus twist the knife and Elijah dropped into whatever trance his kind entered when they couldn’t awaken. She was accustomed to vampires being faster and stronger than she was, so Kahlan wasn’t completely taken by surprise when Klaus slammed her into a wall and stared intently into her eyes.

“Now, what am I going to do with you?” Klaus asked, his smile a razor.

Kahlan was burningly aware of Darken watching as Klaus stroked her throat where her pulse would have shown when she’d been alive. Then she was gasping and moaning as pain coursed through her body. She toppled Klaus’s direction and he caught her, stabbing her with one hand and holding her upright with the other.

“Do you feel that?” Klaus whispered in her ear, his breath warmer than a vampire’s. “It’s scraping against your heart. If I twitch, you’re dead.”

“She just wants to help her sister,” Darken said, shifting uneasily.

“The witches said you had a cure,” Kahlan gasped out through the agony trying to blot out her thoughts. “Give me the cure and I’ll do whatever you want.” She had no guile left in this. He had no reason to give her what she wanted and she could think of nothing to offer him. But Denna was her responsibility. She was her sister’s keeper.

Klaus skewed the knife sideways as he pulled it out. “Trouble is, I don’t want you the way you are now,” he said as he went to the cupboard and filled a ceramic mug with human blood. “You’re almost as weak as a human.” Even from behind, Kahlan could feel Klaus’s smirk as he took a sip of blood.

With a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach, Kahlan felt herself yearn for the blood. Klaus had injured her and her body needed blood to complete the healing. More, she longed to lose herself in the heady flavor of real blood, the only food and drink that could satisfy her anymore. She knew she was truly weak because she almost looked at Darken, almost begged her sire to save her. 

For a moment Kahlan wasn’t sure if she resisted because she couldn’t bear to be saved by Darken or because she didn’t want to be saved at all.

***

Denna followed Darken into the night, a happy smile lighting her face. A corner of her knew she was rabid, dying, a thing that needed to simply be put down. The rest of her followed Darken through her family’s woods. He carried the torch even though he could see in the night better than any cat. At any moment, he could leap forward in a burst of superhuman speed to leave her stumbling alone in the dark. That was the game.

“Wait,” she called, hoping he would. Knowing that at some point he would go on without her into the eternal night. The thought of how easily he could catch her or leave her made her giddy and breathless. He made her feel what none of the men she’d grown up with could, the delight of the chase.

Here in the dark of the night with only Darken, Denna could forget about the rest of the world. She could forget about the neighbors and how they whispered behind their hands about the Amnell girls throwing themselves at the handsome newcomer who really should be fighting for the South instead of keeping the local beauties for himself. She could leave behind the angry knot that burned in her chest when she thought of Darken laying with Kahlan the way he lay with her. Even if she was the special one, the one he didn’t have to compel, it galled her to think about how everyone liked Kahlan more than her.

Everyone including…

Denna’s favorite wrap snagged on a branch and she stumbled into Richard. “You don’t have to follow him, Denna.” Richard’s big brown eyes were so solemn and earnest she hesitated.

“Just a little farther,” coaxed Darken, his voice floating through the night.

“You have a choice,” Richard said as he stepped back into the shadows.

Denna stared after him but her attention was caught by the flicker of the torch. She laughed and turned to follow it.

***

Leo shook Cara’s shoulder gently. “Denna and Kahlan haven’t checked in. Where’s Richard?”

“He went to see Denna,” Cara said, bouncing to her feet.

“Of course he did,” Leo said. “You should stay here, finish the movie.”

Cara bristled. “I hate this movie. If my brother’s in danger, I need to help.”

“You’re no match for Kahlan or Denna or anything strong enough to mess with them, especially if Denna is out of her head.” Leo said soothingly. “I know you’re tough but we’re better equipped.”

“You convinced me to stay behind before and guess what, my aunt is dead. I’m not going to just sit back and let that happen all over again.” Cara said angrily. “I’m going to help my brother and you,” she looked at Chase who had risen anxiously to his feet, “could stop me but you won’t.” She tossed her blonde hair. 

“Why not?” Chase asked, his tone mostly curious and only a tiny bit defiant.

“Because you’re not that kind of guy,” Cara said firmly. “You remember what it was like when Denna did it to you.” Her green eyes blazed with conviction.

She almost felt bad when Chase self-consciously touched his neck. She did feel bad when she felt Leo’s hurt gaze on her back as she stomped off.

***

“I heard about this one vampire, crazy bitch,” Klaus said, circling Kahlan with the mug in his hand.

Darken backed warily away. He wasn’t sure what made a ripper so different from the rest of them but he had heard enough about what Kahlan was like when she abandoned herself to the red haze that he was getting nervous. Days under compulsion not to leave had been more than enough to remind Darken why he’d been on the run in the first place. Though seeing Elijah- watching Elijah get stabbed. That had been… something Darken would want to avoid thinking about if he was ever going to be able to take his chance and run. Surely by now Elijah would have forgotten any… fondness… he might have once had for Darken.

He did his best to back away as unobtrusively as possible. Kahlan had come here of her own volition. He couldn’t protect her from herself.

“She was always giving up blood for good and then backsliding into glorious orgies of killing.” Klaus waved the mug in front of Kahlan who responded like a snake watching a mouse. “She once wiped out an entire migrant village in one night,” Klaus breathed. “A true ripper. Sound familiar?” He ostentatiously took another sip, pulling away as Kahlan stared slack jawed.

Kahlan swallowed audibly. “I’m not that way anymore.”

“Well, that’s the vampire I can make a deal with. The only one.” Klaus said. He smiled as though he’d already won but Darken knew Klaus had won the moment he arrived in town. That was always the way it had been. “That’s the kind of vampire that would be useful to me when I leave. Darken, come here.” his voice dripped quiet menace.

Darken knew the logic trap and knew that whatever he did, he would lose and Klaus would win. Convincing Constance’s pet to give him blood had been the only victory he would ever get over Klaus. If he disobeyed, Klaus would know for certain Darken could no longer be compelled and punishments would be handed out. If he obeyed, he’d have to deal with whatever mean-spirited trick Klaus intended this time. The only option with a hope of survival was to go to Klaus. Darken burned with resentment as he felt Kahlan’s eyes on him, willing him not to give her up to save himself. As if he didn’t know that offering her up in his stead was futile.

They had watched as Klaus spun so fast even Elijah couldn’t avoid him but Darken was still startled as Klaus fangs sank into the soft skin on his wrist. “No, no.” Darken repeated in horror, staring at the bite of a werewolf. Klaus knew he’d been played and Darken was going to have an agonizing death. The smell of Klaus’s blood wasn’t enough to pull his attention away from the circle of rot spreading outward from the bite. Then Klaus’s arm was in his face and he was being forced to drink Klaus’s blood. He made a sound of protest and was left standing feeling like the world had changed too quickly. Klaus was inside him, pouring through Darken’s blood and tissues. He avoided looking at Elijah’s frozen face.

“My blood is the cure,” Klaus said, a malevolent child showing off his new toy.

Darken glared at Klaus but all of the hybrid’s attention was on Kahlan. Darken flexed his fingers to make sure the wrist was back in working order.

Klaus reached out to Kahlan, touching her arm. “Now, I know what you want and you know what I want. Let’s discuss terms.”

***

“Darken,” Denna murmured, staring blearily into the middle distance.

“Denna!” Cara said, jogging up to the vampire. “Where’s Richard?”

“Richard,” Denna murmured distantly. “Where’s Richard? I need to see him.”

Cara looked around nervously for people who might be watching them. “Whoa,” she said as Denna lost her balance. She grabbed the vampire around the waist and hustled her off to the grill.

She was calling Leo to let him know she’d found Denna when the door burst open and Michael came striding through, gun drawn. She barely noticed Richard following Michael, shouting something when Denna blurred away. Cara felt the impact of the bullet but never really registered the pain.

***

Chase kept himself between Richard and his father as they approached Cara. His father had dropped his gun but Richard tried to take a swing at him and that only slowed down Chase’s attempts to get to Cara. Cara lay spread out on the floor, a bullet wound just off to the left side of chest. His father was feeling her pulse point but Chase could hear her heart faltering. “Hold on,” he shouted over the yelling. Baring his wrist, he gouged a furrow into his forearm and pressed it to Cara’s mouth.

“What in the blazes are you trying to do?” his father shouted, horrified. “That can’t be sanitary!”

“Vampire blood can heal injuries,” Richard growled. “If you stop him, I swear I will-”

“You’ll what?” Chase’s father pushed. “Have one of your pet murderers come after me?”

As a human, Chase would have responded to his father’s tone. As a vampire, Chase could smell the fear pouring off his father and Richard. “We’ll fix this,” he told them, injecting certainty into his tone and posture. He sometimes thought what made vampires most dangerous wasn’t their fangs but their more finely tuned senses giving them hints about the best way to lull their prey into a false sense of security. Not that Chase intended to manipulate his father and closest friends but it was so easy to read them and project the emotions he wanted them to read on him. “I’m calling Leo.”

“Leo? What can Leo do?” Chase’s father burst out.

“A lot,” Richard growled.

Leo answered within a short enough amount of time that Chase was sure he’d been within blocks. “Oh my God. No, no.” He squatted beside his girlfriend who to vampire senses was completely dead. “I need to get her out of here.” Leo said, ignoring the tears leaking from his eyes.

“I shot her,” Chase’s father said as if explaining something to a kindergartner. “This is a crime scene. There’ll be an investigation. You can’t move her.”

“Let them go, dad,” Chase said softly.

“What?” Chase’s father said, looking a little dazed and so very human and vulnerable.

“Let them go,” he repeated in the same soft voice.

“I’ve probably lost my job anyway,” Chase’s dad said, standing back as Leo lifted Cara tenderly. Because she was dead, her limbs sprawled awkwardly, dragging Leo’s center of balance off but even Richard let Leo do it himself.

“I need air,” Richard said in a choked voice. “I can’t watch this.”

There was a moment of quiet after they’d left Chase alone with his father. He knew he should go make sure nothing happened to Richard but his father was… his father.

“Why do you care?” Chase’s father made it an accusation.

“Because I’m me. I remember when I broke Richard’s bike and spilled Pepsi on Leo’s favorite cards. I helped Richard in math class and Leo helped us both with essays. Cara is my friend.” Chase took a deep breath, surprised to feel how close it was to a sob. “And you’re my dad. I’m me.”

His father looked down at the blood on his hands from where he’d tried to resuscitate Cara. “I guess you are.”

***

“How about a ten-year bender.” Klaus suggested, waving the glass in front of Kahlan some more before opening a vein into a bottle so he could taunt her with that too.

“I’m not like that anymore,” Kahlan said in a protest that Darken didn’t think even she believed.

“Too bad,” Klaus said with false regret. “She would have been fun to play with.” He began pouring out the blood in another move that Darken saw coming a mile away.

Darken wished Kahlan would stop pretending she had a chance of standing up to Klaus. Klaus enjoyed this part, when people tried to tell him no and he made them do things over their objections. A memory filled Darken’s mouth with the bitterness of bile. He needed to watch so he could catch his moment. Klaus was about to celebrate his win with Kahlan by setting up a new hunt. It was the only reason he’d have let Darken enjoy his cure.

Kahlan made the only move available and reaffirmed that Klaus had the upper hand. The smug bastard smirked and tossed her a pack of blood.

“Drink,” Klaus said, smiling malevolently.

Backed into a corner, Kahlan did to the last drop. And at Klaus’s insistence, she had another and another and another and another. When she was beyond glutted with blood, then the fun began.

***

Cara opened her eyes in the dark. “What happened?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Leo whispered fervently. “I got you back.”

***

“Richard,” Denna said, seeing him through a haze.

“I’m here,” Richard said, a tightness in his throat.

“I looked everywhere for you, Darken,” Denna said, advancing on him. “I want to be with you forever.” She hugged him close, burying her nose against his neck.

“I forgive you, Denna.” Richard said.

“Don’t tell my sister. It’s between the two of us.” 

Richard tried to pull away as she gave him a sloppy, passionate kiss. “Denna, it’s me. Richard. Not Darken.”

With sudden, vampiric strength, Denna slammed Richard against the nearest vertical surface. Richard was stunned for a moment and then felt teeth at his throat and tree bark under his fingers. “Forever,” she mumbled to herself and her delirium.

Bucking in useless panic, Richard tried to tell her she didn’t have to do this. He could almost taste her blood in his mouth again as he realized he was bleeding. “Don’t,” he begged. “Not again.”

Denna pulled back, eyes tracking on the same reality Richard saw. “Richard. Oh God. I hurt you.”

“No. You stopped yourself.” Richard patted her cheek. “Let’s get you home.”

“You hate me.” Denna said, leaning on Richard but trying to help him get her in a homeward direction.

“No.” Richard shook his head, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

“I might still hurt you.” Denna said.

“But you won’t,” he replied confidently.

***

Just as Darken could have told anyone who’d asked, the moment Kahlan was too full of blood to do anything sensible but not so full as to wander off inside her own head, Klaus struck. Tossing the vial full of his blood to Darken, he casually ordered Darken to take the cure to Denna.

Darken knew what Kahlan thought of him but he didn’t have time for reassurances. Any fraction of a second’s delay would mean being stuck in the apartment again. And Denna’s destruction. So he hurried to get out of Klaus’s sphere of influence as quickly as possible. Klaus was about to be occupied with his new playmate and there was absolutely nothing Darken could do to save her.

He was only mildly surprised to find Richard waiting in Denna’s bedroom. But then Richard was a very modern boy and Denna was moving with the times. Or maybe it was the other way around. Darken supposed he was getting soft in his old age because he felt the need to try to help Richard. “It’s okay to love them both. I did.” Darken advised before fleeing into the night to put as much distance between himself and Klaus as possible before the dawn.

**Author's Note:**

> Appearing:
> 
> Richard - Elena  
> Cara - Jeremy  
> Kahlan - Stefan  
> Denna - Damon  
> Chase - Caroline  
> Leo - Bonnie  
> Darken - Katherine  
> Michael - Sheriff Forbes
> 
> Mentioned:
> 
> Emma - Tyler  
> Triana - Vicky  
> Dahlia - Anna  
> Constance - Rose  
> Kieran - Emily


End file.
